GAME 15IRJ)S OF THE PACIFIC 
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the Alagdalena bay, Lower California. Tlie 
American scoter (aidemia amcricana) and the 
surf scoter {aidemia persjncillata) are quite 
common, thougli not as numerous as the 
white-winged. While the scoters are con- 
sidered game in many places along the Atlantic 
Coast they are hunted but very little here, 
our great abundance of better ducks furnishing 
plenty of good sport without resorting to these 
inferior sea birds, which are hardly palatable 
to a discriminating taste. 
FATAL HOSPITALITY 
Possibly nothing that can be written regard- 
ing the duck shooting of the Pacific Coast will 
convey a better idea of its excellence than a 
description of the artificial shooting grounds 
of Southern California. In that section of 
the state natural marshes were few and small, 
and were soon turned into preserves. Ducks 
were abundant; it was only shooting and 
feeding grounds that were lacking. All along 
the coast either easy artesian or close surface 
water could be obtained. Clubs were organ- 
ized, lands purchased and teams put to work 
scraping out locations for great shallow ponds 
wherein feed would grow in abundance. 
This done, artesian wells were bored, or, 
where this could not be had, surface wells 
were sunk and gasoline or electric power from 
nearby trolley lines installed for pumping 
and the ponds filled. Spacious clubhoiLses 
were built and furnished with all the luxuries 
of home, and many of these but a few yards 
from one of the numerous trolley lines that 
radiate from Los Angeles. These shallow 
ponds were soon supplied with plenty of fine 
feed and therefore became favored resorts 
for the birds. I cannot give the exact numlier 
of these artificial ponds, but in the vicinity of 
Los Angeles there are two dozen or more, and 
generally these afford better sport than do 
the natural marshes, and have the additional 
convenience of a trolley service close to the door. 
NOW ACCESSIBLE 
I shall not attempt to name the more favor- 
able localities for duck shooting. They are 
to be found all along the coast marshes, the 
lakes of the foothills and the mountains and 
Avherever there is an overflow or a pond filled 
by the winter’s rain, from Washington to 
the irreat lakes of the Zona 'Templada of 
Mexico. One place, howi'vcr, 1 shall men lion 
becaiuse it is little known and little visited by 
our .sportsmen. ’Ihat is the mouth pt the 
Colorado river. Ducks assemble there very 
early in the season in numbers that will tax 
the credulity of any one who has not seen them. 
There they find an abundance of feed ami 
there they remain until their northward flight 
begins. The time was when this place could 
only be reached by a row boat down the river 
from Yuma. Now the railroad to Imperial 
and Calexico leaves but a short distance to 
be driven by team. The waterfowl that 
congregate at this point is a sight to witness 
which is worth a much longer trip. I know 
of no place so attractive for a winter camp. 
The climate is all that any one can desire, 
with so little rain that one may remain there 
for a month without experiencing a single 
.shower. The gulf furnishes fine saltwater 
fishing, lots of turtles, and shell fish in numbers 
and variety almost beyond belief. 
Such are the numbers and variety of the 
ducks of the Pacific Coast, and such the 
shooting grounds. But this enumeration of 
the wide variety of species, and this description 
of the hunting grounds conveys but a poor 
idea of the grand duck shooting which our 
sportsmen enjoy, for to properly estimate the 
(juality of their sport there must be added to 
the quantity and variety of their game the peer- 
less conditions under which that sport is had. 
BY COURTESY ONLY 
We of the “wild and wooly West” are not 
wholly boorish. We have a little respect for 
the learned men who make our almanacs, 
and in deference to their erudition and to the 
feelings of our shivering friends of the ice- 
bound East, we refer to certain months of the 
year as winter, when in fact we have no such 
season except by courtesy. The beginning of 
the rainy sea.son varies in the several latitudes, 
but it marks the real beginning of our spring. 
The rus.set brown of our foothills and valleys 
changes at once to the bright emerald of the 
new-born grass. A few weeks later the 
California poppy carpets the valleys with its 
deep rich gold, until the goddess Flora, 
descending with her magic brush and palette 
of inimitable colors, paints every plain and 
hillside in stupendous mosaic patterns of blue 
and red and yellow and white and purple. 
The haze of the dry months has been washed 
from the atmosphere, the heat of summer has 
])a.sse<l and the balm of .sjiring is about us. 
I’he air is filled with ihe hum of bees, the 
ucw-born l)Ulterfly floats lazily upon its 
parti-colored wings, and tiny feathered throats 
warble their happy songs. The towering 
mountain peaks, glistening with their crowns 
